In a sweeping story set in eastern North Carolina, Leo Daughtry takes readers from 1957 to 1970, a time of convulsive societal change in Talmadge Farm (Story Merchant 2024). As the Vietnam War intensifies, the civil rights movement spreads across the South, reaching even wealthy bank president and tobacco farmer, Gordon Talmadge. North Carolina’s Research […]
Donna Meredith Interviews Betsy Reeder, author of “Broadus Unbound”
October 23, 2024 by Leave a Comment
Summary of Broadus Unbound Called by the famed Charles Spurgeon “the greatest of living preachers,” John A. Broadus left an indelible signature not only on the Baptist denomination but on a generation. Emerging from the US Civil War as a voice of reason and reconciliation, he traveled, wrote, and tirelessly trained clergy for the urgencies […]
“Between the Sound and Sea” by Amanda Cox
October 8, 2024 by Leave a Comment
How does one deal with crushing regret and unresolved grief? How do broken families heal? And what is required for personal fears to be overcome? These and other questions thread their way through Amanda Cox’s Between the Sound and Sea (Revel, 2024), a narrative of mystery and romance. The story centers around Josephina Harris, who goes […]
“The Little Girl at the Bottom of the Picture” by Jeremy White
February 13, 2024 by Leave a Comment
In The Little Girl at the Bottom of the Picture: A Journey of Selfless Discovery, Jeremy White takes readers into and through a labyrinth of relationship by providing almost-voyeuristic access to emails, text messages, phone calls, and in-person communications. This he does with candor, humor, and meticulous attention to detail. The true story begins with […]
Donna Meredith interviews Sheridan Brown, T. M. Brown, Charles M. Clemmons and Betsy Reeder about Civil War Era novels
September 19, 2023 by Leave a Comment
Four new Civil War Era novels were released this year. Southern Literary Review Editor Donna Meredith interviewed the authors to find out what similarities and differences there might be in their approaches to their subjects—and why they chose to write about them in the first place. Sheridan Brown’s novel, The Viola Factor, is based on […]
“Hemlock Hollow” by Culley Holderfield
May 31, 2023 by Leave a Comment
InHemlock Hollow, Culley Holderfield takes readers on a fascinating two-fold journey as he skillfully interweaves the lives of twenty-first-century Caroline McAlister and nineteenth-century Carson Quinn. The story begins with Caroline, a professor of astroarchaeology, finding Carson’s journal in the cabin she is having restored. Her return to this Hemlock Hollow cabin after many years is […]